JamesASchaefer

Denying that we may be experiencing the start of the Sixth Mass Extinction paves the way for it to happen Arguing that we are not currently experiencing a Sixth Mass Extinction, or at least playing down its possibility, gives support to those who would happily allow it to happen. Wiens and Saban [1], in a...

the current rate of extinction, as estimated by ourselves and others, whom we cited, and across diverse major taxa, we may well be headed in the direction of a new mass extinction event
www.cell.com/trends/ecolo... 🌐🧪

The Message Box: A superb tool to help translate scientific knowledge into digestible, key messages and why they matter.

www.compassscicomm.org/leadership-d...

Habitat selection as a reduction in habitat variance When organisms select habitat, they may lessen the environmental variance they experience relative to their surroundings. Such discrepancies in varian…

Delighted to present at the #CSEE2025. Indeed, our paper was published just this week. When selecting habitat, animals could lessen the environmental variance they experience relative to their surroundings — a feature largely overlooked in studies of #ecology.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

For years, in my #university #teaching, I've allowed students a cue card to write their exams.
And I think the cards make a fine mosaic, perhaps the makings of a textbook in #biology.

Some advice for writers:
Strive to implement effective prose simplification and clarification approaches to the writing process.

Looking to make a difference? Consider these words of encouragement:

"If you think you're too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito."
— Anita Roddick

Generalization Bias in Large Language Model Summarization of Scientific Research Artificial intelligence chatbots driven by large language models (LLMs) have the potential to increase public science literacy and support scientific research, as they can quickly summarize complex sc...

We are learning more & more about large language models, like ChatGPT — including their biases.

Indeed, when asked to summarize the scientific literature, many AI models are biased; they tend to extrapolate the results beyond the claims supported by the material.

arxiv.org/abs/2504.00025

Summer employment opportunities in ecology at Trent University

PhD opportunity in moose ecology at Trent University

Students routinely ask for lecture slides, but does access to slides actually enhance learning?

Using a within-subject design — evaluating each student, with & without slides — researchers report "access to slides ... had a negative impact on student performance."

t.co/fYYkEKSLQ5